Case 266 | Decisions Must Express Facts and Law on which it is based | Not applicable to

Administrative Bodies with adjudicatory functions | June 1, 1990

Borromeo v. Court of Appeals and Samson Lao

G.R. No. L-82273

Facts:

In a complaint for damages filed with the RTC of Cebu, Branch 8 docketed as
Civil Case No. CEB-8679, petitioner Joaquin T. Borromeo charges Attys. Julieta Y.
Carreon and Alfredo P. Marasigan, Division Clerk of Court and Asst. Division Clerk of
Court, respectively, of the Third Division, and Atty. Jose I. Ilustre, Chief of the Judicial
Records Office of this Court, with usurpation of judicial functions, for allegedly
"maliciously and deviously issuing biased, fake, baseless and unconstitutional
'Resolution' and 'Entry of Judgment' in G.R. No. 82273.

In several letter-complaints filed with the courts and the Ombudsman Borromeo
had repeatedly alleged that he "suffered injustices," because of the disposition of the four
(4) cases he separately appealed to this Court which were resolved by minute resolutions,
allegedly in violation of Sections 4 (3),13 and 14 of Article VIII of the 1987 Constitution
. His invariable complaint is that the resolutions, which disposed of his cases, do not bear
the signatures of the Justices who participated in the deliberations and resolutions and do
not show that they voted therein. He likewise complained that the resolutions bear no
certification of the Chief Justice and that they did not state the facts and the law on which
they were based and were signed only by the Clerks of Court and therefore
"unconstitutional, null and void."

Issue:

Whether or not the assailed minute resolution complied with the constitutional
requirement.

Ruling:

The September 13, 1989 resolution of the Supreme Court through its Third
Division which disposed of Borromeo's petition is a four-page resolution which more
than adequately complies with the constitutional requirements governing resolutions
refusing to give due course to petitions for review. The petition and its incidents were
discussed and deliberated upon by the Justices of the Third Division during the April 13,
1988 session; the September 28,1988 session; the November 28,1988 session; the
January 25, 1989 session; and the April 12, 1989 session before the issuance of the
September 13, 1989 resolution. On November 27, 1989, a motion for reconsideration,
which was received by the Court more than a month after a copy of the September 13,
1989 resolution denying the petition was served on the petitioner, was noted without
action as the Court found that the motion merely reiterated the same arguments earlier
raised in the petition and already passed upon by the Court and was, therefore without
merit.

For a prompt dispatch of actions of the Court, minute resolutions are promulgated
by the Court through the Clerk of Court, who takes charge of sending copies thereof to
the parties concerned by quoting verbatim the resolution issued on a particular case. It is
the Clerk of Court's duty to inform the parties of the action taken on their cases by
quoting the resolution adopted by the court. The Clerk of Court never participates in the
deliberations of case. All decisions and resolutions are actions of the Court. The Clerk of
Court merely transmits the Court's action. This was explained in the caseG.R. No.
56280, "Rhine Marketing Corp. v. Felix Gravante, et al.", where, in a resolution dated
July 6, 1981, the Court said"[M]inute resolutions of this Court denying or dismissing
unmeritorious petitions like the petition in the case at bar, are the result of a thorough
deliberation among the members of this Court, which does not and cannot delegate the
exercise of its judicial functions to its Clerk of Court or any of its subalterns, which
should be known to counsel. When a petition is denied or dismissed by this Court, this
Court sustains the challenged decision or order together with its findings of facts and
legal conclusions."

In G.R. No. 76355, Macario Tayamura, et al. v. Intermediate Appellate Court, et

al. (May 21, 1987), the Court clarified the constitutional requirement that a decision must
express clearly and distinctly the facts and law on which it is based as referring only
to decisions. Resolutions disposing of petitions fall under the constitutional provision
which states that, "No petition for review ... shall be refused due course ...without stating
the legal basis therefor" (Section 14, Article VIII, Constitution). When the Court, after
deliberating on a petition and any subsequent pleadings, manifestations, comments, or
motions decides to deny due course to the petition and states that the questions raised are
factual or no reversible error in the respondent court's decision is shown or for some other
legal basis stated in the resolution, there is sufficient compliance with the constitutional
requirement.